Denmark 2015: Germany recovers from tough debut

The conducted by Jakob Vestergaard did not kick off the World Championship in the best way, but last night they smiled again after defeating Argentina by 33-23.

It didn’t take too long until the German team took a convincing lead against a less experienced South American team. After the first five minutes, the scoreboard showed 5-1 in favour of the Europeans who would punish both for own merit and also because of the technical mistakes committed by the Argentinians.

The first half finished 17-8 for Germany, a result that was sustained by Katja Kramarczyk’s superb performance (finished with 47% save rate) and Serbia’s 2013 top scorer, Susan Müller. Argentina had a very hard time trying to convert and was also unable to stop the German missiles that came from 9 meters and even further. The physical difference was evident and it remained an important factor during the entire 60 minutes.

The second half only increased the difference between both teams and the coaches made changes in the squad so that all players would rotate. Luciana Mendoza, from Argentina, was named player of the match. Herself, together with Elke Karsten were top scorers for the conducted by Eduardo Peruchena, with 4 goals each; while Susan Müller was top scorer of the match with 7 goals.

Coach Vestergaard was content with the victory after a tough debut: “Of course we’re pretty happy that we won, it was not an easy match for us because two days ago we were told how to play handball from France and we had to prove to ourselves that in the next games we would have the possibility (to win), I’m also happy because many players from my team performed pretty well. Now we’re looking forward to play against Brazil, which of course will not be easy”.

Argentina’s left back Amelia Belotti reflected on the final result: “I think we had the hope that Germany could be a bit more accessible among all of the top teams that are in our group, but the match slipped away from us from the very beginning, they were just too huge for us and it was very hard to stop them”. Lucia Haro added: “We’re looking forward to work and get better, Germany gave us a lesson of good handball and these kind of matches are a great opportunity for us to keep on learning”.

Argentina will play against France on the second match of the day at 18:15hs, while Germany will face Brazil at 20:30hs.